DisCos billed only N2.99tn of N3.68tn electricity supplied in 2025 as 5.2 million customers remained unmetered……
Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies left about N1.36 trillion in potential revenue unaccounted for in 2025, with billions of naira lost because electricity supplied to consumers was either not billed or bills issued were not fully collected.
The latest figures from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) show that the 11 distribution companies supplied electricity valued at N3.68 trillion during the year but billed customers for only N2.99 trillion.
That left about N694.8 billion worth of electricity supplied to consumers without corresponding bills, resulting in a gross billing efficiency of 81.14 per cent.
The revenue problem continued even after bills were issued. Of the N2.99 trillion billed by the DisCos, only N2.32 trillion was collected, leaving N669.49 billion outstanding.
NERC said the collections represented an overall collection efficiency of 77.60 per cent.
“The total billing to electricity consumers by the DisCos was N2.99tn, but only N2.32tn was collected, translating to a collection efficiency of 77.60 per cent,” the regulator stated in its 2025 Annual Report.
Taken together, the figures expose a major weakness in the electricity market: power is being supplied, but a significant portion is neither converted into bills nor ultimately turned into cash for the companies operating the distribution network.
The revenue challenge is also closely tied to the country’s persistent metering gap.
NERC reported that there were 12.16 million active registered electricity customers as of December 2025. Only 6.97 million, representing 57.27 per cent, had meters.
This left approximately 5.20 million customers, or 42.73 per cent, without meters at the end of the year.
The DisCos installed 972,040 meters during 2025, with Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company recording the highest number of installations at 180,256, while Yola recorded the lowest at 14,231.
The lack of complete metering has remained one of the major challenges confronting Nigeria’s electricity market, particularly because it makes it difficult to accurately measure consumption and determine the amount customers should pay.
The issue has also fuelled criticism of the country’s electricity privatisation model.
Former senator and businessman Ben Murray-Bruce, in an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, argued that the privatisation exercise had failed to deliver the investment and reliability Nigerians were promised.
“The 2013 privatisation was not a reform. It was a transfer of custody,” he said.
Murray-Bruce argued that investors acquired the electricity assets without having sufficient financial capacity to rebuild and expand them.
“The men and women who bought the GenCos and the DisCos had enough money to purchase the assets. They did not have enough money to run them. Owning a power station and capitalising a power station are two different economic acts, and we confused them,” he stated.
NERC’s figures show that the problem goes beyond unbilled electricity and unpaid bills.
The weighted average aggregate technical, commercial and collection loss across the 11 DisCos stood at 37.03 per cent in 2025.
The figure consisted of 18.86 per cent technical and commercial losses and 22.40 per cent collection losses.
That performance was 16.49 percentage points above the 20.54 per cent target established under the 2025 Multi-Year Tariff Order.
The DisCos also recorded significant gaps between the amount of electricity received and the amount ultimately billed.
According to NERC, the companies received 31,251.77 gigawatt-hours of electricity at their trading points during the year but billed customers for only 25,867.86GWh, giving an energy accounting efficiency of 82.77 per cent.
Ibadan DisCo recorded the highest energy accounting efficiency at 88.84 per cent, while Enugu DisCo posted the lowest at 72.18 per cent.
The financial strain extends beyond the relationship between DisCos and their customers.
NERC said the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company and the Market Operator issued gross invoices of N1.72 trillion to the DisCos in 2025 for energy and administrative services.
The DisCos remitted N1.632 trillion, leaving a shortfall of N89.58 billion.
At the same time, the Federal Government continued to shoulder a substantial portion of the industry’s financial burden through electricity tariff subsidies.
NERC said the government incurred a subsidy obligation of N1.93 trillion during 2025, equivalent to 57.44 per cent of the total N3.357 trillion invoice issued by NBET for the year.
The regulator attributed the large subsidy largely to the government’s decision to keep allowed tariffs paid by consumers below cost-reflective levels despite increases in the cost of supplying electricity.
The scale of the subsidy has further intensified debate over whether the current electricity market can become financially sustainable without continued government intervention.
Murray-Bruce said the public resources committed to the sector had not produced a corresponding improvement in electricity supply.
“Roughly N10tn of public money has gone into this sector in 13 years, and the lights are still off,” he said.
He argued that the country should move away from an overly centralised electricity model and allow communities and estates to develop their own power systems.
“Every village, every estate, every community in Nigeria should have its own PHCN,” Murray-Bruce proposed.
Under his proposal, communities and estates would establish metered solar generation systems, with state governments providing guarantees for financing while consumers pay regulated tariffs.
He also suggested that state governments should take responsibility for powering streetlights, police stations, primary healthcare centres and schools, while the Federal Government concentrates on federal institutions and infrastructure.
The sector’s financial difficulties were accompanied by continued weaknesses in the country’s power infrastructure.
NERC recorded two grid collapse incidents in 2025 — one full collapse and one partial collapse.
The full system collapse occurred on September 10, while the partial collapse on December 29 was attributed to the failure of one circuit breaker on the Benin-Onitsha 330kV transmission line at the Benin transmission station.
The NERC data ultimately reveal a power sector facing problems at almost every stage of the electricity value chain.
DisCos failed to bill nearly N695 billion worth of electricity supplied in 2025 and were unable to collect another N669.49 billion from customers who had already been billed.
At the same time, more than 5.2 million active customers remained unmetered, aggregate losses stayed well above the regulatory target, market operators recorded an N89.58 billion remittance shortfall, and the Federal Government carried a N1.93 trillion tariff subsidy obligation.
For consumers, the figures underline why improved electricity supply alone may not resolve the sector’s problems. Unless the industry can accurately measure consumption, bill customers, collect payments and recover enough revenue to sustain generation, transmission and distribution, the financial weaknesses threatening Nigeria’s power market are likely to persist.
